Nearby, another protester, holding a sign that said, “Pregnancy is not a disease,” said that he is protesting the president’s recent policies requiring employers to pay for contraception.

“A lot of people believe that abortion is a remedy for problems but we believe in life and the Christian understanding that life starts at conception,” said Benicia resident Al Williams.

“I would not be here if it wasn’t for an assault on religious freedom,” Williams said.

Another large group consisted of opponents of the federal government’s recent crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Brentwood resident Tommy Schneider arrived with a sign that said, “’Stop the war on medical cannabis or lose my vote,’ signed by a California registered Democrat.”

“I’ve been pretty upset with the way the federal government is closing the medical cannabis dispensaries,” Schneider said.

“They pay us lip service that they’re going to be laying off the states and because of that many dispensaries opened up,” he said.

Schneider said that he voted for Obama in 2008, but unless he sees the policy change, he will not vote for any presidential candidate in 2012.

As with many recent protests, several protesters also identified with the Occupy Wall Street movement, and in the middle of the crowd started chants like, “The system has got to die, hella hella occupy.”

Joseph Rosas from Occupy San Jose carried a large sign on his back that said, “I’ll believe corporations are people when San Jose City Hall evicts one.”

Rosas said that he attended the protest because Obama has shown little support for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

“Because he is a supposedly liberal president he should be in favor of freedom of speech,” Rosas said.

Rosas, who said he is a candidate for the state assembly in district 24, which covers parts of Santa Clara County, remains angry over the forced eviction of Occupy San Jose from outside of San Jose City Hall, despite working and partnering with local businesses, he said.

James Lee, from Occupy Redwood City, said he attended the protest for a variety of causes, including military action in Yemen, financial policies that he said favor large banks, and the continued detention of WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning.

Protesters shouted their complaints at the building where Obama would speak, creating a cacophony of derision toward the president.

Activists with World Can’t Wait arrived with large signs against the possibility of war with Iran and Manning’s detention. Supporters of the Center for Biological Diversity dressed as polar bears to draw attention to the possibility that oil drilling may be permitted in the Arctic Ocean.

Some protesters combined different causes in their message, like one blond woman wearing a marijuana leaf-patterned sweatshirt carrying a sign that stated, “Weed not War.”

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Obama was whisked into the building without showing his face on the street. It appeared that his vehicle was even driven into a large outside tent before he got out, so that he would not even be seen by the people outside at all.

Nevertheless, even if the president was too cowardly to face the 500 or so people who had showed up specifically to express their anger and disappointment at his policies, the hundreds of people standing outside the building waiting in line to get in and see Obama certainly saw the protesters and heard many of their messages.

did you expect something more?
How about those who attended his dinner? At $38,000 per plate? That must be the so called group of millionaires that Obama wants to tax more. Of course anybody with any kind of sence knows that it was just political posturing. Otherwise, how could he get people to pay that for a measly dinner plate? I am sure that, that amount of money could have donated directly to the shelters and feed the homeless. Oh never mind this is San Francisco, and if the city had got that money to distribute, it would have went to other than what it was intened for. Yep, more taxes I say.

• RON PAUL favors the right to use marijuana as a medical option. He was cosponsor of H.R. 2592, the States’ Rights to Medical Marijuana Act.
• Mitt ROMNEY does not favor legalizing medical marijuana. Romney answered a question on the subject from a man afflicted with muscular dystrophy who asked him about it on October 7, 2007. The man stated that he is medically dependent on medicinal marijuana, and asked if Romney would have him and his doctors arrested. Romney did not answer the question directly, but repeated his stance on medical marijuana, and walked away
• The Obama Administration Declares Open War On Medical Marijuna
Barack Obama doesn’t have the faintest idea how to create jobs or end wars, but he does know one thing: OPPOSES medical marijuana. Since Obama’s been in office, thousands of medical marijuana dispensaries have been shut down.